Listing SQL Server 2017 Installed Anaconda Packages Using PowerShell

SQL Server 2017 comes with the option to include Python (Anaconda) during SQL Server installation. It will install Anaconda with a small set of python packages for the purpose of creating Data Science solution that sre executed within T-SQL statement(s). Unfortunately, there’s no documentation of what Anaconda packages are installed with SQL Server.

Much Easier with Full Installation

Doing the full Anaconda installation, gives the necessary commands to query what has been installed in your system. This makes it much easier to list all existing installed packages.

In the full installation of Anaconda, done separate from SQL Server, you can use the following command to list all packages installed:

conda info

But, with SQL Server 2017 is a different story.

Where’s my SQL Server Anaconda packages?

These packages are found in the default installation location: “C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\”YourSQLServerInstanceName”\PYTHON_SERVICES\conda-meta”

All packages are of file type *json. Each Anaconda package will named with: the package name, package version, and python version number. But, this makes it hard to view using “File Explorer“.

So, solution to list the SQL Server Anaconda packages in a proper format will be needed.

PowerShell To The Rescue

So, here’s a PowerShell function that will list all installed Anaconda packages in SQL Server 2017. This will required to enter some parameters, such as: SQL Server Installation Location, and SQL Server Instance name.